Tradition / Region: Belarusian mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow
The Myth
In the village of Sho, people spoke in hushed voices of a terrifying being that was not a tale for children, but something seen with waking eyes. They said it appeared as a flying calf, malformed and unnatural, with a huge swollen head, no horns, and a shape that filled those who saw it with dread.
One woman told how her sister feared a certain barn where a man had once hanged himself. A cow was kept there, and each morning she brought hay in a basket, turning on the light and placing the feed carefully, yet she refused to climb into the hayloft itself.
One winter morning, as she stood outside, she heard footsteps. A door on the sloping side of the barn slowly began to open. At first it was only a crack. They owned a small black dog named Filka, and she wondered if it might be him, though she knew he could not open the door.
Suddenly the door flew wide and slammed against the wall.
Something burst out—but it was no dog.
It was as large as a calf. In the snow she saw it clearly: a massive head, a short thick neck, legs that looked as though they wore boots, and a long tail bent upward at the end. The creature ran past the hut and along the path. It did not go into the cellar. Instead, it rose into the air and flew away, its long tail dragging across the snow until it vanished.
The woman swore she had seen it plainly and had been frozen with terror. Others dismissed her words, saying such things could not exist. But in Sho, the story endured, and the memory of the flying calf lingered like a shadow over the barn and the snow-covered path where it had passed.
Gallery
Sources
Bestiary.us. (n.d.). Chudovishche s Sho (Beast of Sho), from https://www.bestiary.us/chudovishche-s-sho
Lobach, U. A. (Ed.). (2011). Полацкі этнаграфічны зборнік. Вып. 2, Ч. 1: Народная проза беларусаў Падзвіння [Polatsk Ethnographic Collection. Vol. 2, Pt. 1: Folk Prose of the Belarusans of Padzvinnie]. Новаполацк: ПДУ. p. 89-90.
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Beast of Sho
